The Games They Play
by SilverontheRose
Summary: I got tired of the wonderful amazing can do anything you wish Shikon no Tama. So what if it wasn't exactly what everyone thought it was? Warning Campyness and OCCness abounds. And there's sake and a flying pickle. You've been warned.


Title: The Games They Play  
Genre: Humor  
Rating: PG  
Warnings: OOC doesn't begin to cover it...  
Disclaimer: Takahashi doesn't know I wrote this and I would prefer to leave it that way! Cause if the manga ends like this I'm gonna be killed by rabid fangirls and boys.

* * *

**The Games They Play**

Sesshoumaru broke out the second bottle of sake and stared at his brother.

"You know it's risky for you to be here. But I have to say you've come up with an entertaining idea."

"You don't have to act like I never have good ideas. Who thought up our rivalry?"

A missile sailed across the table and hit him in the head. He reached up and removed the pickle lodged in his hair.

"You were five at the time and it only took me an hour of ignoring you before you changed your mind."

"I meant this time."

Sesshoumaru grinned at the scowling hanyou.

"Pour another drink for us. I don't know the answer off hand so I'll have to ask Bokusenoh. You'll have to keep your group away from him so don't follow any shard rumors that way."

Inuyasha stretched, looking up at the sky above.

"I wasn't born yesterday. Oh, shit! I've been here too long. By now she's worked up some story in her head that will end with my apparent need to be sat."

Sesshoumaru snickered.

"Laugh all you want. Rin will figure out something to embarrass the hell out of you soon enough. Anyway, if this works Kagome won't be using the kotodana for long. I'll see you in a couple of days."

"Hey, this time remember not to leave me an opening in the next fight. A poison hand through the gut is no way to start a marriage."

Inuyasha grinned, "But it's so much fun when she demands I remove my shirt. I refuse and she rips it off me."

"And you call the monk a pervert. Get out of here before Jaken comes back. You know he can't keep a secret."

"Later."

* * *

Not long afterward Naraku met a bloody end at the end of the brothers' swords and the priestess' spells. An injured Kikyou tried to take Inuyasha to hell only to have Sesshoumaru remind her that he had prior claim on the hanyou's death. A bitter struggle ensued that ended in Kikyou going into hiding to heal her wounds. Sesshoumaru decided that Inuyasha was too wounded to bother with and left. 

Miroku and Sango went back to her village to repair Hirakotsu after they had healed enough from their wounds. Kagome sat Inuyasha only to find herself trapped beneath him with a rather large piece of evidence pressed against her proving his feelings for her.

No one ever found out if priestess' power came from their purity because what was meant as a quick trip through the well ended fifty years later with Inuyasha's return. Explanations of a blocked well only opening with Kagome's death had friends in tears. When he told them of Kagome's wish for Kikyou's restoration no one was surprised. Kagome had always thought of others.

He had to go find Kikyou as she had continued to wander. Villagers were shocked when they came back. Not only was Kikyou restored, but the former hanyou's silver locks were now black and all signs of his demonic heritage were gone. However, time for the two was fleeting. A few years later her grave once again was filled and Inuyasha disappeared.

* * *

Sesshoumaru poured the warmed sake and toasted his brother. 

"That was a well played game! Dad would have been proud of you. That final "turned human" bit would have had him laughing for years."

"I never dreamed that playing with dad's old ball would be that fun. Well, the human bit wasn't as fun, but Kikyou wouldn't have believe me if I'd stayed hanyou."

"You know, I'm going to miss kicking Jaken for mentioning you. But the look on his face when we told him…"

Sesshoumaru doubled over laughing, Inuyasha joining him. They thought the imp was going to expire on the spot when they explained their dad's game to him.

"I'm glad it turned you back into your old self. You reeked as a hanyou and a berserker. I can start admitting I have a brother again."

Sesshoumaru made an impressed sound at Inuyasha's move on the game board. Inuyasha drank down the sake in his cup and watched Sesshoumaru debate over his next move.

"I still can't believe the ball is so powerful it can even create its own history. Even Kouga believed in the "Shikon no Tama" until Ayame filled him in," Inuyasha laughed. "Granted, he's not the brightest but all the other youkai saw through Dad's game."

Inuyasha toyed with the idea of pouring another cup of sake but became distracted after Sesshoumaru's surprise move on the board.

"Hey, Sesshoumaru, did you hide the ball again?"

"Yes. Next time you're throwing it. It's been a couple of centuries since I got to chase it. Dad was an absolute genius."

Sesshoumaru filled the sake cups and lifted his up.

"To Dad!"

"To Dad!"

* * *

Outside a dazed Jaken could only whisper, "a game of fetch?"

* * *

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-ducks wet noodles-

Yes, all along Yash was a full youkai and the entire thing was a hallucination caused by the demonic equivalent of a tennis ball! Woohoo! It only took 10 years and 500 chapters to get to it!

-goes into the writer's protection program-

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Full explanation: I've had some people confused by this so I'm adding this part. I apologize for the confusion and promise to look for a beta to lead me away from my muddleness.

Think of the ball as being a magical PS2. The dog clan gets bored as they go through long centuries so they play fetch every once in a while. Except when this ball is thrown it creates a role playing adventure. Inuyasha was cast in the role of a hanyou. Sesshoumaru was also cast in a role but since he had thrown the ball he couldn't be the one to find it and bring it back. That job was for Inuyasha. The older higher level youkai know about Inu-papa's toy… and find it amusing enough to go along with it. But it's so powerful everyone else gets wrapped into the storyline and unknowingly goes along with it. And the one who's chasing it has to take whatever comes his way... even if it means spending 50 years stuck to a tree. Cruel to the humans and hanyou? Depends on your view. I went along with the attitude most youkai showed towards humans.

And Inuyasha asked why he couldn't have both women in one of my favorite episodes. :) So for once I was nice to him and gave him both women in a context I think they could have lived with. :P


End file.
